Colleagues,
I thought I give you a breather from trumping Trump, pouncing
Pence, bobbing Biden, catty Kamala, psyched out psychology.
I wish you a prosperous Diwali.
Tomorrow is India's major festival of lights called Diwali. Being an Indian it is both my honour & pleasure to introduce & acquaint you all to the free & plural India.
Though there is a background story
about Diwali (which is the real cause/reason of
celebrating Diwali, which can be learnt on the quoted wikipedia link.
But here are many real life, lesser known, fun & practical facts
that might surprise you.
All houses are cleaned to every nook and
corners up to a day before Diwali.
4-5 days before Diwali (not this year owing to COVID) everyone's
visiting relatives, friends, customers & clients, investors,
carrying gifts.
Two days before Diwali is Dhanteras - a day most Indian families
go out traditionally to buy an object of metal. The prosperous
buy Gold jewellery, less prosperous buy a utensil poor would buy
steel spoons - but each with equal vigour within his means. Its
a tradition & a way to force save money in gold &
precious metal. Just to give you an understanding of the scales
of India - on Dhanteras (2 days before Diwali) 30-40 Tons of
gold was bought by Indians on one single day. Silver sales are
three to four times on this day and Stainless Steel utensil
& cutlery Sales are 300-400 times on this day. It is a mode
for Indians to save something for future.
Diwali is generally considered to be victory of good over evil and oil lamps are traditionally lit. Though we all hang Christmas Lights on our Balconies and inside houses, but lighting the traditional oil lamp at least a few of them is followed as a strict tradition.
Diwali is also considered as the festival of
prosperity. It is occurs always in Oct. - Dec. in concurrence to
a specific Indian calendar, of the 300 calendars that exist in
India.
So most business/offices open on Diwali morning. The Chief
guests are invariably accounts head & proprietor/owner,
because the books of accounts are on this day every year
baptised (nearest analogue) and Lakshmi, the Goddess of Riches
is prayed to to bless the books of accounts. Since all
businesses maintain accounts on computers, they take a printout,
bind it and pray using it many others carry small symbolic cash
books, especially for the occasion. Almost all business &
families in north India would buy a silver coin. All businesses
wrap up praying with books of accounts to Lakshmi by noon. After
which families go out for shopping as Diwali days are considered
auspicious for purchasing (so currently we are having Flipkart
& Amazon Bonanza Online sales going on:-).
There is special food (we, Punjabis invariably
mustard leaves' puree with cornflour pancakes), new clothes,
lots of sweets. Evenings are spent organizing a family prayer
followed by the most exciting for kids. A session of bursting
crackers and bombs and bengal-fires, sparkles, rockets. Though
Delhi has banned cracker owing to pollution, but in my childhood
we would start purchase 7 days in advance, not to let dad feel
that is is overdone (so buy a little daily). We would travel to
special areas & markets where some special super bombs
(which would shake the beat of heart, pretty much like a hand
grenade) were made to make purchases. Sept. month pocket money
invariably would be saved to max, to spent additionally and
beyond the monetary ration given by parents to burn off in
crackers on Diwali. Crackers would be burnt for 1-2 hours at a
stretch. Dogs on Diwali evening would always be difficult to
find as they hide under beds & sofas. The sounds in cities
with close buildings are defeaning. Bursting of crackers stops
only by midnight.
In childhood, all of us would immensely enjoy,
from the core of our hearts, spending wee hours searching for
unexploded crackers & enjoy bursting them.
Day after Diwali is Vishwakarma Day.
Vishwakarma was a an ancient talented architect/constructor. It
is a holiday & is celebrated as labour day. On this day all
manufacturers go to factory for a while to baptise the equipment
- from expensive semiconductor equipment to a hammer, who every
uses whatsoever tools - does a prayer to his tool that it works
and provides prosperity and food for the family. So prayer by
financers/accountants of books of accounts precedes Diwali
celebration tools follow. It is important to mention that these
are traditions of north India. These traditions of celebrating
Diwali change every few hundred kilometers, as language, food
& aparrel change in India. In north India for some funny
unknown reason all 7 days preceding Diwali, gambling on playing
card games popularly called 'Flash' (restricted to adults) among
family & friends is very common (though some families deride
it). Alcohol consumption (in North India) too goes up preceding
Diwali. But the Diwali day is strictly kept free of alcohol.
Religious ceremonies are very subjective to families and are not uniform. As an example - in my family - My wife Harsh (an artist Painter and Senior Research Fellow to Govt. of India) and my Son (a freshly, just-minted Mechatronics Engineer) are agnosts, while I am an atheist. So we have no prayers. But we enjoy doing traditions (except praying) without thinking of their reasonableness or rationality. I firmly believe that a life spent strictly by reason is an unreasonable life :-).
Diwali is pan-religious festival. All children
buy and burn crackers exchange gifts irrespective of them being
Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jewish or Zorastarians. Quite like
we in our family buy Christmas tree and decorate it, cook great
food and dine together irrespective of being Christians or not.
I desire to wish you all a Happy &
prosperous Diwali once again.
Yes, ideal Diwali wishes are "Wishing you prosperity". Here is a
card our family has made for this interesting friendship circle
I have build thanks to Gregg!